The present invention relates to syringe assemblies, and more specifically relates to a syringe needle assembly which includes a permanently attached and extendable sheath which covers the point(s) of the needle after use.
In recent years, there has been an urgent need to protect medical practitioners from possible infection by exposure to used syringe needles. Such syringe needles may have been employed for phlebotomy, hypodermic injections, biopsies, intravenous feeding, and other uses where a needle has entered the patient's body. The concern for contacting serum hepatitis and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is particularly acute.
When a syringe needle is to be sterilized and reused, the medical practitioner is exposed from the time of completing the medical procedure to the time of sterilizing the syringe apparatus. When the syringe needle assembly is to be disposed, then not only is the medical practitioner exposed to possible infection, but anyone coming into contact with the refuse is also potentially at risk of infection.
While medical practitioners may take such prophylactic measures as wearing gloves, needle pricks are still possible. In phlebotomy, for example, medical personnel may experience one prick out of 100 blood draws. When a needle has two points, such as in the use of Vacutainer syringes, the probability of becoming pricked is even greater.
To date, while various protective measures have been proposed, few have gained widespread acceptance in the medical community. Not only has the complexity and relative high cost of prior assemblies deterred their common employment, but even more important today, they do not adequately protect the medical practitioner from possible infection. Furthermore, while there have been prior attempts to adequately cover syringe needles for protective purposes, all known attempts have been directed to single point needles, with no known assembly to cover the points of a double pointed needle.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a syringe assembly including a puncture-proof sheath which may be extended in both directions along the shaft of a double pointed needle to non-retractably cover the points of the needle after use.
It is an object of the invention to provide a syringe needle having a protective sheath which may be operated by medical practitioners using the finger-tips of one hand to actuate the protective device without having to touch the used needle with the exposed fingertips.
It is a further object of the invention to form in combination with the outlet of a a syringe, a locking assembly so that the needle cannot be removed from the syringe until the protective sheath has been employed to cover the needle points.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a syringe assembly including a puncture-proof sheath extendable to non-retractably cover the single point of a syringe needle, being extended by the fingertips of one hand as in covering a double pointed needle.